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UJP Calls For Diplomacy and De-Escalation in Afghanistan

President Obama announced his decision Feb. 17 to send 17,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, on the grounds that 'the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan demands urgent attention'.

United for Justice with Peace strongly opposes this decision. We urge you to immediately call on President Obama to choose diplomacy, not escalation. We must let him know that a military solution is not the answer in Afghanistan. Call 202-456-1111 today or email the White House at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact.

Tell the Administration that:

1) You oppose the president's decision to send 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

2) You want to see this administration take a new approach in Afghanistan, which includes:

Immediately withdrawing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan and rejecting the idea that there is a military solution to the region's problems

A commitment to diplomacy involving all major regional players, including major international peace-keeping bodies

Addressing the real needs of Afghans by funding improvements in health-care, clean water, education, security, etc., through Afghan NGOs, using local labor and services

UJP, and a majority of the U.S. and Afghan people, understand that military escalation will only exacerbate the horrors that now plague the region and that this escalation is not the answer for Afghanistan and it is not in the interests of the United States.

Please make your call to the White House right now: 202-456-1111.

BACKGROUND

Months ago, Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on the U.S. and NATO to draft troop withdrawal plans, hoping to set an 'end-date' in the near-term future. His call, thus far, and the call of large parts of the Afghan people, has been ignored. Obama needs to hear that we expect him to take a new approach to Afghanistan.

United for Justice with Peace has initiated a campaign highlighting the connections between war, military spending, and the economy. Our opposition to the U.S. war in Afghanistan will now play a heightened role in this campaign, front-and-center, including in the March 21 and April 4 mobilizations we are supporting. We strongly urge Obama to reverse his initial commitment to send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan and instead forge a new path of just and peaceful diplomacy and de-escalation.

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